Dharma Bums 9

"It was going to be a great day, we were back in our element:trails"
page 200

This quote comes as Rau and Japhy leave the party to go hiking by themselves. They views this as their last experience together and Japhy's last chance to see California. This quote shows the growth Ray has made in regaurds to hiking from the time when he could not climb to the top of Matterhorn. Now, he considers trails his "element" which is much different from his feelings towards them earlier in the book.

"I wished the whole world was dead serious about food instead of silly rockets and machines and explosives using everybody's food money to blow their heads off anyway."
page 217

Ray speaks this as he beings to hitchhike to his mountain which is around Seattle. He thinks of how careful Japhy was with food and how Japhy gave Ray his raisins and peanuts before he left for Japan. Ray turns this into his rare pieces of common place philosophy. This view about making food not weapons seems a little mainstream compared to Ray's other views.